Featured Fighter

Conor McGregor seems once again one of the top choices for lightweight fighters even after he lost his title to Khabib last year. This time, ‘it’s a name knows as the Cowboy who had won a five-round brawl against Al Iaquinta. Doland Cerrone is now out for the Irishman who is set to return to MMA within just a few weeks. He is still finding the ideal way to return after his six months suspension in October 2018, or he is retired, which is unlikely.

McGregor announced his retirement in April, but just a week afterwards, there were already signs that ‘it’s not real. Firstly, Dana White never knew about retirement as McGregor never told him. Its also been revealed that Dana and Conor always talk daily, including how McGregor would make his return to UFC.

Well, now he has the opportunity against a fighter who has been coming up in MMA faster than most. Donald Cerrone just managed his 23rd victory in UFC and was aiming to take on the title holder, but said he would want to fight McGregor is that opportunity ‘doesn’t come available first.

It would be a while before he would have a shot at the title as Dustin Poirier has just won the interim title. Khabib is the real title holder, but he was also suspended in October of last year. However, unlike McGregor, Khabib will only return after 12 months as he joins teammates until they can fight again as well.

Therefore, before Donald can have a shot at the title, Dustin and Khabib must first determine who the actual title holder is. This fight is expected to take place as early as September 2019, but no dates have been set just yet. Once the winner is announced, Donald would need to fight his way through all the other interested contenders before he would have a clear shot for the title.

Other Possible Fighters for the title

Of course, McGregor has been itching for a rematch against Khabib since last year when he lost in the fourth round. Now, he would also want to take on the champion and possibly take back the title.

We also see Tony Ferguson still wanting a fight for the title, who has just returned to the MMA world after having some personal problems. However, he has been cleared to fight and has come back with plans to get his championship fight finally.

There are loads of others wanting a shot at the fight between Dustin and Khabib finally determines a winner, but of those, Tony, McGregor and Doland are the most likely. Therefore, we might see some exciting fights as these contenders take each other on to see how deserves a shot at the title fight.

At this point, there aren’t any plans for such fights just yet, but ‘there’s little doubt that the UFC and Dana White ‘wouldn’t see the opportunities available.

Since the 2018 fight against Khabib, we haven’t seen much of McGregor in terms of fighting and even before the UFC 229 event, he didn’t exactly take part in loads of fighting events.

Sure, he has been the focus on news over the last couple of months, but it almost seems as if he doesn’t have the same passion for MMA fighting as he did a few years ago.

Reasons

One of the main reasons McGregor isn’t seen at the moment is because of a 6-month suspension. It was handed down by the Nevada Athletic Commission for his part in the brawl that took place at UFC 229 back in October of 2018.

It was actually Khabib who started the whole thing after winning the fight against McGregor in the fourth round. Khabib had a few words with a trailing partner on McGregor’s team right after the fight, which resulted in the title holder jumping over the cage, into the crowd and attacking.

Naturally, McGregor jumped in as well, trying to defend his team, but due to the magnitude of the actions, both fighters were immediately suspended. The hearing only took place in January 2019 where McGregor was fined $50,000 and suspended for 6 months.

Now with the suspension almost done, we see McGregor saying that he is once again retiring. He made a post on social media to announce the news. With further investigation, it seems as if the retirement post came after he was offered a co-main event later this year, which he declined as he wants shares in UFC, which hasn’t been given to him. McGregor said he will do the event if he gets shares, which was clearly declined, resulting in him retiring early.

He has also been incredibly busy with the launch of his whiskey. He also has a young family, giving him more than enough reason to step back from the fighting and focus more on personal things.

Retirement Not Confirmed

Conor has made retirement threats in the past, which didn’t last and he came back to fight multiple times after the 2016 post on social media. Now, in 2019, we once again have reason to believe that McGregor will be seen in the octagon once again.

One of the biggest reasons was revealed in an interview with UFC boss Dana White who said McGregor hasn’t told him anything about the retirement and to his knowledge the Irishman will be taking part in fighting events later in 2019.

Dana White also confirmed that he has been talking to McGregor almost daily and commonly talks to McGregor about the way he would make a come back into the octagon after his suspension. Therefore, we have reason to believe that the suspension is another way for McGregor to take control for the time being, but we doubt that the suspension will be a permanent thing.

Heavyweight fighter, Derick Lewis finds himself even further away from claiming a title after being defeated last week at UFC 146, taking place in Kansas.

Considered to be the fighter with the most post-fight regret, Lewis finds himself one step further away from claiming the title he has been hunting for so long. The fight was meant to be his way of forgetting the loss he suffered last year against the same fighter. Dos Santos, which was his first title fight ever.

Even though Black Beast agreed to the fight on short notice, there’s no denying that many were expecting more from the hard-hitting fighter. It would have been the perfect win to set him in line with a title match, but now, he is one step further behind.

How it All Went Down

The first round between Black Beast and dos Santos was somewhat strange for those who’ve come to know the fighting style of Lewis. While getting in a few hits, he seemed to have more focus on the leg strikes than anything else. Fans were hoping to see those powerful punches. Giving Santos a bit an of a wangle within the first round.

However, it seemed as if Santos was the one with all the advantage, hopping around with loads of energy and ready to give Black Beast the fight he wanted. However, in the first round, he didn’t manage to get much more than Black Beast.

Even the beginning of round two showed these fighters seemingly take it easy, but Santos managed to deliver a powerful kick to the midsection of Lewis, making him crumble in pain. Even with that kick, Santos remained careful of the powerful punches his opponent is capable of but decided to go for the kill when Lewis dropped after the kick. To no one’s surprise, Lewis tried to grab hold of Santos and almost delivered one of the punches. He just missed, causing Santos to reconsider his moves and draw back just a little.

With Santos stepping off, Black Beast was able to recover and get back to fighting. However, it wasn’t long into the second round when Santos managed to deliver a dominant right-hander. Once again dropping Lewis to the ground and now have the perfect opportunity to end the fight.

Was Black Beast Ready for the Fight?

The Black Beast team later revealed that the fighter wasn’t ready and suffering from a torn meniscus. This would have had a severe effect on his abilities to perform at his best. However, the short notice fight was accepted, and we’re sure Black Beast would’ve waited if he could do it all over again.

Now, he is has set back his career and opportunity of a title fight, but it’s certainly not the end of the fighter. We expect to see him enter the octagon again soon, possibly taking on Tuivasa.

2018 has certainly been an exciting year with the majority of fights giving us more than enough to talk about the next day. The octagon has certainly been one well-wroth keeping an eye on, special with major fights such as the build up to multiple Conor McGregor fights. However, with so many events in the last year, it’s hard to choose just a single fight.

Jan Blachowicz vs. Jimi Manuwa

On the 17th of Match 2018 during the 127th UFC fight night, spectators were given all the action with a rematch between these light-heavyweight strikers in London. There wasn’t much hope for the fight as the previous match in 2015 delivered a rather unexciting and dull event.

It’s clear that both the men decided this would be completely different as they entered the ring and delivered one of the best 2018 fights that continued for 3 rounds. It all started with Manuwa seemingly having the lead with his shooting style, but it didn’t last long as Blachowicz returned well and eventually go his opponent in a ramrod jaw that gave him the opportunity to throw multiple combinations at the brit who found himself wobbly, even during the first round.

The second round was somewhat the same, both men trying their best, but Blachowicz once again introduced multiple combinations with his jab. By round 3, both men were tired, drawing back the action, but still offering a power fight. However, Blachowicz once again come with a jab attack, leading him to the victory. While no knockouts formed part of the third round and no clear winners were featured, there’s no denying that Blachwicz has the match.

Yoel Roman vs. Robert Whittaker

Yet another rematch, the Yoel and Robert fight seemed somewhat unlikely after Robert beat Yoel in 2017 to claim the middleweight title and was then upgraded. He even signed to defend his title against Luke Rockhold, but due to infection was unable to fight. However, Romano stepped in and beat Robert with a knockout, making the rematch possible.
The first round was rather strange as Whittaker presented his usual game with multiple kicks and jabs. At one point is almost seemed as if it’s working on Roman, but now after the fight he was trying to lure Whittaker in instead.

By the third round, Roman’s plan was laid out and ready for action as the fighter simply came out with a mission to win. A massive right hander almost sent Whittaker down, but despite to power of the punch we say with Rockhold, Whittaker managed to hold on. In fact, he managed to come straight back with power blows of his own, causing quite the commotion with the crowed as a full-blown flight was on happening in the octagon.

The action continued with the 4th and even the 5th round, both fighters making each move count. At the end of the fight, there was no telling who the winner is as the action was just too fast and exciting to keep up with. However, Romero was technically closer to finishing his opponent, which got him the win.

One month after signaling an interest to open a new UFC women’s division, the promotion has gone all in on strawweights.

UFC President Dana White today announced the promotion has acquired the contracts of 11 Invicta FC fighters, who will compete on the first all-women season of “The Ultimate Fighter” for the inaugural UFC strawweight title.

Just a little over two weeks after suspending Matt Mitrione for breaking the UFC Code of Conduct by making transphobic comments against transgender fighter Fallon Fox on this site’s ‘The MMA Hour’, Mitrione’s suspension is over. As someone else already said on Twitter, I’m sure Mitrione really learned his lesson on that two-week suspension. The cause for the suspended sentence? A bout at UFC on FOX 8 opposite ‘The Ultimate Fighter 10’ cast member Brendan Schaub. Alright, then.

UFC President Dana White also said Mitrione was fined for the infraction, but failed to identity a dollar figure. So, after blowback that reached the mainstream press colored the UFC’s ongoing efforts to develop positive relationships with the LGBT community, the UFC’s response is to lift a two-week non-suspension and say ‘trust us, it’s a lot’ on a fine that may or may not exist.

I doubt White or any other UFC brass bowed to pressure from fans who felt the suspension was inappropriate to begin with, but either way they win here. Mitrione’s turnaround between UFC on FUEL TV 8 and UFC on FOX 8 is actually the shortest of his career. Mitrione’s punishment was so short and so inexpensive, in fact, that it literally cannot measured.